Royal Commission into the Building and Construction Industry

The Royal Commission into the Building and Construction Industry, or informally the Cole Royal Commission, was a Royal Commission established by the Australian government to inquire into and report upon alleged misconduct in the building and construction industry in Australia. The establishment of the Commission followed various unsuccessful attempts by the Federal Government to impose greater regulation upon the conduct of industrial relations in that industry.

The Royal Commission commenced on 29 August 2001 and was overseen by a sole Royal Commissioner, The Honourable Justice Terence Cole RFD QC. Justice Cole handed the commission's final report to the Governor-General on 24 February 2003; and the report was tabled in parliament on 26 and 27 March 2003.^[1]

Although the Commission found no evidence of organised criminal activity, it did articulate a case that the industry was characterised by lawlessness in the conduct of industrial relations. It recommended sweeping changes to industrial relations laws applicable to the industry. The government's attempts to implement those recommendations stalled in 2004, but were revived in 2005 after the Howard government secured control of the Senate. The Royal Commission led to the enactment of the Building and Construction Industry Improvement Act 2005 No. 113 (Cth) and the establishment of the Office of the Australian Building and Construction Commissioner (ABCC), an independent statutory authority responsible for monitoring and promoting workplace relations in the Australian building and construction industry. The ABCC was active between October 2005 and May 2012, when, following enactment of the Fair Work (Building Industry) Act 2012 (Cth), its functions were superseded by Fair Work Building and Construction, an agency of the Australian government. The agency was re-established in December 2016 as the Australian Building and Construction Commission.^[2]